I have lived in Los Angeles throughout Kobe Bryant’s NBA career. His career began in the fall of 1996 when he joined the Lakers as an 18-year old right out of Lower Merion High near Philadelphia. Kobe’s high school was about three miles from Haverford College, where I played basketball for four years before moving to Los Angeles. After he followed me to LA, Kobe’s career stretched to the spring of 2016, when Father Time caught up with his legs and he retired.
Throughout his career, Kobe was obsessed with the game, with improving each summer, and with wringing everything possible from his body in the pursuit of wins.